Mac Intel Ad Gets Twist Ending

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While this sort of Windows/Mac joke has been played out a billion times before, this time it just seems to have a bit more humor. Someone has altered the ending of the Mac/Intel ad - the one everyone claimed copied a Postal Service video - to illustrate a scenario Windows users have, unfortunately, become all to familiar with.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-06    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Online, Spoofs



Unicorn, Crab, One-Legged Girl Promote Newport Beach Film Fest

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Here's one of those promotions that makes you ask, "WTF???" In a nod to certain movies which have surprise endings, the surprise ending in this clip is twisted. An idyllic day at the beach goes horribly wrong when a crab and a unicorn cross paths. Be sure to check out the girl who becomes randomly one-legged at the end of the clip. Oh, before we forget, the whole thing promotes the Newport Beach Film Festival and was created by Y&R Southern California.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 6-06    
Topic: Online, Promotions, Strange



Kooky SIte Trys to Get College Kids to Eat Mac And Cheese

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FCBi has created a site called University of St. Arvin to promote Kraft's Easy Mac Cups. At the college student-directed site, people can create a message that will be sent to their Mom asking her to send a care package full of Easy mac Cups. There's a Subservient Chicken-like area of the site where you can click around a guy's dorm room and make him do stuff. There's a weird roomate-films-roomate-making out thing and a couple of videos, one that's kinda funny. But does anyone older that ten eat this crap?

by Steve Hall    Apr- 6-06    
Topic: Online



Zugara Is A Very Busy Interactive Shop

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LA-based interactive shop Zugara has always come up with some pretty decent online environments as it were and lately has been quite busy continuing in that direction. Recently, they've done some work for Reebok and the NFL. Their RBK NFL Draft site features insight and thoughts from NFL Pro Athletes on the draft itself, anticipation of being called to the podium and how their life changed once they were drafted. For Playstation, Zugara created the Syphon Filter site which allows people to take part in Playstation's Dark Mirror storyline by investigating the mysterious KenSymth corporation. After taking part in a mission, they'll be led to spoofish sites where further information can be found and investigated to unlock further missions and content on the site.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 6-06    
Topic: Agencies, Games, Online



OMG! Check Out These Weird VH1 Videos Before They Go Offline!

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So we get this email from some dude who said he received an email from a "friend" who wrote fervently, "WTF!!!!!! Have you seen this yet? Someone's lost their fucking mind! Better download them now, before they take them off the server. http://68.178.246.54/test2.html. Um, yea right.They might as well put out a press release saying, "VH1 is promoting its daily news show Best Week Ever with a series of quirky videos to imbue the decidedly odd character of the show." Anyway, hurry up a view them now because (gasp!) they may not stay online for long!!!

UPDATE: In a very encouraging sign, VH1 has owned up and acknowledged to us they could have handled the release of these video is a less "OMG, check this out" manner. There are no hard and fast rules anymore regarding the so called "correct" way to release a promotion. Especially when there's so many bitchy bloggers like us ready jump all over people who are simply trying to figure out how to get their message out in a media landscape that is changing hourly. So go easy on them. We're all learning here. Well, not too easy otherwise there's be no point for this website:-)

by Steve Hall    Apr- 4-06    
Topic: Online, Strange, Viral



Motorola Sponsors Gorillaz Demon Days Live

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We Think We Know Her

Since we're only "almost-sorta-cool," we have no idea what Gorillaz Demon Days Live is (Ed. Silly, it's a game/music/tour thingy) but we do know Motorola is sponsoring it and is offering "Motoglyphs" (wallpaper for your mobile), games, images, videos and other cool stuff for people who know what the hell this is. Oh, look at the URL...it's out friends over at NightAgency. Who knew?

by Steve Hall    Apr- 4-06    
Topic: Events, Mobile/Wireless, Online



Chevy Confirms It Gets Social Media

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A couple days ago when we offered our insight on the Chevy Apprentice make your own ad site and wrote, "We think there are some voices inside G.M. that understand social media very well and knew this would happen," we felt strongly, we were right. "This" being the collection of anti-GM, anti-SUV ads people created. In today's New York Times, our assessment was proved correct when Chevrolet's Milisa Tezanos was quoted as saying, "We anticipated that there would be critical submissions. You do turn over your brand to the public, and we knew that we were going to get some bad with the good. But it's part of playing in this space." Exactly. This space is very different from old, ordered, one-way traditional media spaces of yesteryear and to expect new spaces to behave the same was is just plain dumb. Rock on GM. Now just makes some cars people want to buy and you'll be all set.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 4-06    
Topic: Brands, Consumer Created, Good, Online



Amp'd Mobile Promotes With Six-Panel Video Banner

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To demonstrate its video offerings for Amp'd mobile phones, Klipmart created an ad banner that contains six panels of streaming video with the ad unit. The goal was to demonstrate the capabilities of the Amp's site within the banner. Within the ad unit, users can click on any of the videos to view them on a larger screen with sound and music. The ad first presents a 3-D tour of various Amp'd models with "Amp'd Live" as a menu option. Clicking on "Amp'd Live" presents the six streaming video panels. Ads will appear on Buy.com. Yahoo, Fox Sports, CNET, Maxim and others. See the ad unit here.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 3-06    
Topic: Good, Mobile/Wireless, Online



Ad Guy Doesn't Pay Rent, Ad Biz Still Viewed As Sleazy

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It seems Toronto ad execs can't seem to stay out of trouble. First, henderson bas President Dawna Henderson gets exposed as a maniacal control freak and now some ad guy has stiffed another out of rent money. An Adrants readers writes us saying, "Toronto Marketing consultant Simon Wood owed my friend thousands ($6,000) of dollars in back-rent, stringing him along until finally disappearing into the night. This friend, also an Ad-guy, got really pissed-off and searched the net for where to track down Mr. Wood. He discovered in the process that Simon had let his B2B site domain's registry slide. My friend (Phil Bonnell according to Whois) bought www.simonwood.ca for eleven dollars and the rest is history."

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 3-06    
Topic: Bad, Online, Strange



Chevy Leaves Negative Tahoe Ads Up On 'Chevy Apprentice' Site

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After viewing all the humorous, consumer-created SUV-bashing Tahoe ads born out of the Chevy Apprentice make-your-own ad promotion and reading some think GM is making a mistake with this, we thought we'd share out opinion that, lame as this might have been seen at first, it is, if left unedited, one of the better consumer-created marketing promotions. We think there are some voices inside GM that understand social media very well and knew this would happen. We're not surprised at all and we're not surprised they've left the negative ads up. If all we saw on that site were glowing praises of the vehicle, the promotion would simply be seen as just another lame attempt at capitalizing on a trend and a giant corporation trying to thrust it's twisted version of reality upon us.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 2-06    
Topic: Brands, Consumer Created, Good, Online, Promotions, Viral